The present invention relates to magazines for carrying and/or storing projectiles and in particular to a battlefield magazine having an external reinforcing frame.
Modern war is often a war of logistics where the winner is determined by the ability to efficiently transport men and material. Accordingly, it is essential to optimize the conveyance of ammunition such as projectiles and shells.
The storage or transportation of projectiles generally requires a balancing between two conflicting considerations. On the one hand, the projectiles should be stored such that it is easy to remove them from their storage mechanism as required for usage of the projectiles. On the other hand, the projectiles must be stored such that they are secure in their storage arrangement and will not be jarred loose by nearby explosions or while being transported along a bumpy road. Generally, the more secure a projectile is from accidental dislodgement, the more time-consuming it is to remove the projectile from its storage facility.
Other factors to be considered in the storage or transportation of projectiles is the need to not only protect the projectiles from damage but to provide devices to aid in the compact storage of the projectiles. In addition, there is a need to provide for easy lifting and conveying of one or a number of projectiles in a protective enclosure.
One common method for transportation and storage of projectiles is by use of a wooden pallet. The pallet is normally configured in two rows of four projectiles. The wooden pallet consists of uppr and lower wood laminates held together with steel banding. The bases of the projectiles rest on the lower wood laminate board and the nose protrudes through holes drilled in the top wood laminate board.
The use of wooden pallets is subject to numerous disadvantages. For one thing, the steel banding must be cut or otherwise removed to allow access to all of the projectiles, this in turn necessitating the rebanding of the wooden pallet if the projectiles are to be resecured. Further, the pallet does not protect the projectiles from incidental mechanical damage or from a contaminated environment (storage under high humidity or other harsh conditions or nuclear, biological, or chemical agents). Accordingly, the projectiles require periodic maintenance at considerable expense or likewise expensive decontamination where enemy action has resulted in nuclear, biological, or chemical agents contaminating the outside of the projectiles. In order to maintain or decontaminate the projectiles, the pallet must be broken apart. The projectiles must then be treated to protect them from environmental deterioration and/or to decontaminate them. The projectiles must then be replaced upon the pallet and the upper and lower boards of the pallet must be rebanded together.
A further disadvantage of the wooden pallet method is that the projectiles must be removed from the pallets in order to allow them to be readied for usage by placement within an ammunition resupply vehicle such as that disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,441 entitled "Field Artillary Ammunition Support Vehicle" issued on Dec. 2, 1980 to John Turner, Richard A. Koster, and Seymour Bassman, and assigned to the assignee of the present application. Some of the prior art problems with storage and transportation of projectiles have been overcome by the Battlefield Magazine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,723 to Johnson and Borst, issued Sept. 3, 1985 and by the Projectile Lock Assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,528, issued Aug. 17, 1982 to Ayyala Perisastry, Richard A. Vishe, and Peter J. Hoet. The projectile lock assembly disclosed in that patent, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, uses a track having a plurality of parallel cylindrical tubes. A number of locking assemblies are mounted along each of the tubes and used for individually locking projectiles within the associate tube. The battlefield magazine and projectile lock assembly of the Johnson et al and the Perisastry et al patents aforementioned are extremely useful in providing a storage rack for projectiles. The structures are somewhat complex, but they are most practical under conditions where projectiles must be separately removed from a storage rack. That is, they are advantageous in an ammunition resupply vehicle of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,441 where projectiles must be normally secured during the vehicle's movement and selectively removed from projectile storage zones as necessary for conveyance to a self-propelled howitzer or other weapon. However, the expense and complexities of the locking structure generally would preclude its use for transportation of projectiles except where individual projectile access is required (i.e., at or near the battlefront where projectiles are fused and/or loaded into weapons).
As will be readily appreciated, the transfer of projectiles from a wooden pallet to the projectile rack and lock assembly adds a time consuming step to the overall process of most efficiently getting projectiles from the factories/and or long term depots to the racks from which the projectiles may be stored and conveyed under battlefield conditions.